News Track: Mirrorbox Theatre enters new era as founder departs

A small theater company on the northwest side of Cedar Rapids survived nearly going broke last year, and now that its founder announced this month his departure, faces a new chapter.

"I'm really excited to see what happens when other members of the community get a voice in terms of what Mirrorbox does and looks like and feels like," said Cavan Hallman, who founded Mirrorbox Theatre in 2018. "I fully support that and fully believe Mirrorbox has a future."

Hallman announced on Facebook last week that he left his leadership roles as artistic director and board president of the nonprofit "in order to focus on my family."

Background

Hallman and his wife, Katie, moved to Cedar Rapids from New Orleans about eight years ago when she was hired by Theatre Cedar Rapids, where she is executive director.

He launched Mirrorbox in 2018 and staged plays at CSPS Hall and Theatre Cedar Rapids. During the coronavirus pandemic, the theater streamed performances online.

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Mirrorbox has prided itself on offering lesser-known contemporary plays that have never been shown in Iowa.

"Mirrorbox is Iowa's home for new plays, thought-provoking and entertaining performances never seen before in the state, presented in an unconventional and intimate setting of a neighborhood theater," Hallman said.

In 2022, theater actors led readings in homes and conference rooms with small groups of people of "the wish," a play with the tagline: "a manual for a last-ditch effort to save abortion in the United States through theater."

That same year, the theater found what was planned to be a permanent home in the Time Check neighborhood along Ellis Boulevard NW, an area that suffered tremendous flooding in 2008.

As the city sought to rebuild after the floods, the building at 1200 Ellis Blvd. NW was determined by city officials to be one of two architecturally significant buildings in the area, Hallman has said.

It was an automotive shop for decades and for a time housed a dog groomer before Mirrorbox leased and renovated it in 2022.

In 2023, the theater was on shaky financial footing, according to federal tax records. That year it had operated at about a $26,000 loss, even though Hallman had agreed to cease his salary for running it midway through the year.

In October 2024, Mirrorbox made a desperate public plea for donations to help it cover rent in the face of eviction.

Hallman sought $30,000 and received a little less than half that, but that was enough to keep the theater going.

What's happened since

Mirrorbox recently finished three weeks of performances of "These Gilded Souls," which the theater described as "a new, haunted adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's ‘The Great Gatsby’."

It was written by a New York playwright, and the Mirrorbox featured its Iowa debut.

Hallman's departure from Mirrorbox was something he said he had long envisioned. The outfit began as somewhat of a family project that transformed into a nonprofit venture.

"Something that did not belong to me," Hallman said. "Something that belonged to the community. Something that would exceed my capacity and survive beyond my involvement."

Then when he stopped taking a salary in 2023, the financial realities of life forced him to seek a new venture. He had poured so much of his time for nearly three decades into art — sometimes making money, sometimes not — but now, he had two young kids.

That summer, he started taking college classes to become a marriage and family counselor. He also works as a grant writer for Kids First Law Center, which advocates for children in custody and divorce proceedings.

Replacing him at the helm of Mirrorbox is Chelsea White, who had worked closely with him for a majority of the theater's shows.

White could not immediately be reached to comment for this article, but Hallman said: "I think Chelsea's deep understanding and knowledge of theater in general and of Mirrorbox and its connection to the community has set up Mirrorbox really well for success."

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